Live music and stuff in Las Palmas, July 2023

Whoever decided to organise the 32^nd International Canarian Jazz Festival (30 June — 23 July 2023) and 27^th TEMUDAS Fest (6—22 July 2023) at the same time, clearly didn’t think of people like me. Oh well. I tried to catch what I could.

• 6 July: Both Sides of Joni Mitchell and Rey & Syl @ Paraninfo de La Universidad de Las Palmas, Calle Juan de Quesada, 30, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  This double bill started with a jazzy tribute to Joni Mitchell by Alexis Cole (vocals) and Monika Herzig (piano) with Peter Kienle (guitar/bass), Peter Lehel (saxophone) and Cecilia Sanchietti (drums). I found the second part more engaging: a fantastic band featuring Dorrey Lin Lyles (vocals), Sylwester Ostrowski (tenor sax), Jakub Mizeracki (guitar), Michał Szkil (piano), Adam Tadel (double bass), Owen Hart Jr. (drums), Lucas Balbo (percussion), Mariana Martinez (dance) and Slawek Ostrowski (vocals).

  

• 7 July, 21:00: «Latas» @ Plaza Stagno
  Three people and lots of cans: a show by D’Click from Zaragoza (see the gallery).

  

• 7 July, 22:00: «Pedaleando hacia el cielo» @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Bikes, circus and opera: a truly amazing performance by the Belgian company Theater Tol which “tells a love story about being together in dark days” (see the gallery).

  

• 13 July: «Juan de Miranda (1723—1805), un relato de ida y vuelta. Músicas para un genio canario» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
  El Afecto Ilustrado immersed us in the music of the times of the Spanish Baroque painter Juan de Miranda (1723—1805), who happened to be born on this day 300 years ago in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Featuring Lucía Caihuela (mezzo-soprano), Adrián Linares (violin), Marta Ramírez (violin), Diego Pérez (cello), Carlos Oramas (theorbo, baroque guitar), Juan Carlos de Mulder (theorbo) and Raquel García (organo). The programme of the concert included:

  Antonio Martín y Coll: Xácaras, de Flores de Música José de Torres: Bosques Umbrosos (cantada) Joaquín García: ¡Ay, qué prodigio! (cantada al Santísimo Sacramento) Josep and Joan Baptista Pla: Trio sonata en re menor Joaquín García: ¡Ah, del rebaño! (tonada de Corpus) Francisco José de Castro: Sonata prima, de Trattenimenti Armonici da Camera, op. 1 José de Torres: Afectos amantes (cantada) Francesco Corselli: Si aquel monarca de Israel (cantada)

  

• 14 July: Le G. Bistaki, «Baïna[na]» @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  You won’t believe what four men with shovels can do (see the gallery).

  

• 15 July: «Grandes finales» @ Terminal de Contenedores del Muelle de La Luz (Grupo Boluda)
  The free buses from La Muelle took us to the container terminal. In our bus, we were entertained by a gospel choir; not sure if there were enough choirs for each bus. The main course: Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria conducted by Karel Mark Chichon. The programme included, well, mostly finales: those of Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Puccini’s La bohème, Enigma Variations by Elgar, and Baba Yaga/The Great Gates of Kiev from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Plus encores (IMHO, the best part): The Sailor’s Hornpipe, the coda of Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours and Radetzky-Marsch by Johann Strauss Sr. (see the gallery).

  

• 18 July: «Un paseo por la Europa de los siglos XVII y XVIII: Entre Chaconas y Pasacalles» @ Casa de Colón
  Another concert of the cycle Música Antigua en el Patio, this time of 17^th- and 18^th-century harpsichord music performed by Patricia Robaina. The programme included:

  Louis Marchand: Suite en Re menor Prélude Chaconne Jean-Baptiste Forqueray: Suite en Do menor La montigni Henry Purcell: Ground en Do menor Bernardo Storace: Ciaccona en Do Mayor Jean-Baptiste Forqueray: Suite en Sol Mayor La Buisson Chaconne Jean-Henri d’Anglebert: Chaconne de Phaëton Henry Purcell: Ground en Mi menor Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer: Uranie Toccata Georg Muffat: Passacaglia en Sol menor from Apparatus musico-organisticus (1690)

  

• 21 July: Carmen Souza and Caramelo de Cuba @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Six years after we went to see her trio in the Auditorio, a welcome re-encounter with Carmen Souza (vocals, guitar, paino), this time as a quartet with Deschanel Gordon (piano), Elias Kacomanolis (drums) and Theo Pascal (electric bass). Caramelo de Cuba seemed to be an interesting project but I didn’t stay beyond the first song.
• 22 July: Puertas al Sur 5tet and Ayom @ Plaza de Santa Ana
  Puertas al Sur 5tet mixes the traditional Afro-Latin rhythms rhythms such as bomba, cumbia, festejo and plena with modern jazz and electronica. I’d say too much electronica and loops for a quintet/sextet featuring Beatriz Alonso (voice, keys), Ariel Bringuez (sax, keys, percussion), Kumar Sublevao-Beat (MC, percussion), Luis Suarez (percussion, loops, samplers) and Miguel Manescau (guitar, bass guitar), plus a special guest Octavio Hernández (guitar). And yes, they better loose that rap. I enjoyed Ayom much more: not as much jazz as a catchy amalgam of Lusophone African and Atlantic with Mediterranean music styles. Featuring Jabu Morales (voice and percussion), Alberto Becucci (accordion), Timoteo Grignani and Walter Martins (percussion), Ricardo Quinteria (guitar) and Francesco Valente (bass).
• 23 July: Música en la Francia del siglo XVIII @ Gabinete Literario, Plaza de Cairasco, 1
  This free concert was given by the teachers of the forthcoming International Course of Early Music (I Curso Internacional de Música Antigua en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 24—27 July). I learned about this event thanks to Patricia Robaina. Performers: Paula Pérez (violin), Mariana Pimenta (soprano), Patricia Robaina (harpsichord) and Pablo Sosa (flute). The programme included Cantata Medée by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault; Le deuxième récréation de la musique by Jean-Marie Leclair; and Cantata Le sommeil d’Ulisse by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre.

  

And two photography exhibitions:

• 15 June — 28 July: «La Isla/El Agua» @ Centro Cultural CICCA, Alameda de Colón, 1
  An exhibition of water-related works by Canarian photographer Tato Gonçalves.

  

• 29 June — 28 July: «San Juan Night Tour» @ Centro de Artes Plásticas (CAP), Calle Colón, 8
  As the name suggests, the images of barrio San Juan by night, by Lidia Esther Díaz Gil.

  

Apart from «Grandes finales», all the events/exhibitions were free of charge.

Live music in Las Palmas, July 2021

I was hoping to hear more live music this July but, with this and that, I couldn’t. The only outdoor concert was the Música en el Parque one on 25 July and, to my annoyance, they still insisted on everybody wearing face masks.

• 15 July: Benavent/di Geraldo/Pardo: Flamenco Leaks @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  This was the only concert of the 30^th edition of Canarias Jazz & Más festival that we’ve attended. But what a concert! Featuring, of course, Carles Benavent (bass), Tino di Geraldo (drums, tabla) and Jorge Pardo (tenor sax, flute).

  

• 21 July: The Planets @ Edificio Miller, Parque Santa Catalina
  Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, conducted by Daniel Abad Casanova, interpreted the famous suite by Gustav Holst. I wish the conductor (or somebody else, why not) said at least a few words. I couldn’t identify the mambo-style piece they played as an encore.

  

• 25 July: Elida Almeida @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
  An electrifying performance by a Cape Verdean singer accompanied by Dodas (guitar), Kalu Ferreira (keyboards), Mayo (bass) and Kau Paris (drums).

So long, Las Palmas. I’m off to Santander, shall be back by the end of the year.

Tchindas

a film by Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena

I really wanted to like this film. So I went to the screening and a colloquium organised by Filmoteca Canaria and featuring the very Tchinda Andrade, whose name became an affectionate word to refer to queer people on São Vicente. Perhaps I was expecting too much. I didn’t stay for colloquium though.

I mean, it’s not bad. It’s just during these 94 minutes not much happens. During the run-up to Carnival, Elvis Tolentino is busy designing and making the dresses. Tchinda Andrade sells her homemade street food, coxinhas de Tchinda. The third protagonist, Edinha Pitanga, does nothing apart from smoking, chatting, and dancing samba in the end. There’s no plot, no development, no drama. Also, for a change, no misery and no violence. Is this enough for a documentary? I’m not sure. For all I know, it could have been a promo commissioned by Cape Verdean tourist board to position São Vicente as LGBTQ+ friendly destination. Which, again, is not a bad thing. And you can’t go wrong with the music of Cesária Évora.

WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

This year, WOMAD came (back) to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It took place in Parque de Santa Catalina, 10—12 November. Exactly when I wasn’t there. Well, I can’t be everywhere. It must have been great.

Fortunately, on 3 December RTVE aired a two-hour program with highlights of the event. The video will be available until 3 May 2018.

Participants (in order of appearance) Papaya (Canarias) 101 Brass Band (Tenerife) Tu Otra Bonita (Madrid) Miroca Paris (Cape Verde) Orkesta Mendoza (Tucson, Arizona) Beating Heart (London, UK) Horace Andy (Jamaica) Profecía Crew (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) Kuarembó (Canarias) Hindi Zahra (Morocco) Niño de Elche (Spain) Bombino (Niger) La Dame Blanche (Cuba) The Brand New Heavies (London, UK)

Carmen Souza Trio live

Sometimes, life in Las Palmas presents impossible choices for a jazz lover. For example, yesterday. Should I go to see Xerach Peñate with her new project Tizziri in CICCA or Carmen Souza in the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus? (Incidentally, the tickets cost exactly the same, so that did not help.) I was pondering this dilemma for a couple of weeks till it resolved itself on Tuesday when Xerach wrote that her event was sold out. This finally prompted me to rush to the box office. Luckily, there still were five or six tickets left for Carmen Souza. So Timur and I headed to the Auditorio.

And it was good. The Trio (Carmen Souza: guitar, piano and vocal; Theo Pascal, double bass and electric bass; Elias Kacomanolis, drums) were presenting CS’s latest album, Creology (as in “creole”), but also some of oldies-goldies such as Parker’s Donna Lee, an up-tempo drum-less, vocal+guitar+bass version of Moonlight Serenade, and Calú Princezito’s Lua (which, until now, I only heard performed by Mayra Andrade). Carmen was charm incarnate, chatting away in fluent Spanish, making the audience laugh, clap, sing (in, I presume, Cape Verdean Creole) and dance. For an encore, the band played probably the most beautiful song of the set, Xinxiroti.

Voz d’Amor

by Cesária Évora

Cesária Évora died on 17 December 2011 aged 70. I only learned about this yesterday from our local free magazine Mi Pueblo. I am sure there were obituaries on the web, they just did not make headlines. (What a contrast to the mass hysteria surrounding the death of Whitney Houston last month, may I add.)

Voz d’Amor was the first CD of Évora I’ve heard. It is one of albums I never tire to listen to. Like all of Évora’s works, it is soaked in nostalgia. But my favourite track — if I had to choose, that is — would be Pomba, which, if not quite sodade-less, is a joy of a song all the same.

Alive! in Lisboa

by Sara Tavares

Although I bought this box set some three years ago, it was not until now that I watched the whole Lisbon concert in one sitting. It is even better than I remember. Perhaps the next best thing to the actual concert of Sara Tavares.

In addition to the DVD, the set includes two of her earlier albums: Mi Ma Bô and Balancê.

The DVD opens with Barquinho da Esperança, a wonderful song that does not appear on any of Sara’s studio albums.

Xinti

by Sara Tavares

Hooray, the long-awaited follow-up to Balancê arrived this morning and that’s what I am listening to now. In Cape Verdean Creole, Xinti means “Feel it”. Que música maravilhosa! My favourite songs so far (if I had to chose, but luckily I don’t) are Di Alma, Só d’Imagina, Exala and Mana Fé — the latter is a hidden track after Manso Manso, so be patient!

I don’t know why at the Amazon UK they marked this album as containing “explicit lyrics”. The only song having any sort of English lyrics in it is Bué. Here it is in its entirety:

Cause I feel good
Very nice
Cause we’ve got
Good, good vibes.

I think kids are safe.

Balancê

by Sara Tavares

This was the first song and video of Sara Tavares I ever heard, and I loved it instantly — I think I ordered the album the very same day. The music is both catchy and gentle, even understated. It was not until last year when I saw the other side of Sara Tavares. We were on holidays in Figueira da Foz last August and, by some coincidence, she was playing in Casino da Figueira da Foz on 21 August. The concert started at 11 pm and went until 1 am or so. I thought I knew what to expect — I did expect it to be good. I did not expect it to be awesome. As the encore, the band played another (reggae!) version of Balancê. Somehow it was completely different song. There was no understatement any longer. Everybody was standing and swaying and singing and dancing. I had never seen so many happy people before.

como vi dançar no zimbabwé quero também contigo gingar ué uma dança nova, mistura de semba com samba, de mambo com rumba tua mão na minha e a minha na tua balancê, balança swinga para lá, swinga para cá balancê, balança maria josé swing no pé se não, chega p’ra lá somos livres para celebrar somos livres para nos libertar como crianças brincando, crianças sorrindo crianças sendo crianças como crianças brincando, crianças sorrindo crianças. balancê, balança swinga para lá, swinga para cá balancê, balança maria josé swing no pé se não, chega p’ra lá adoro quando te deixas levar assim fechas os olhos e danças só para mim uma dança tua mistura de não vem que não tem com um sorriso porém que me diz que o teu desdém é só a manha de alguém que diz que vai, mas que vem me engana que eu gosto

Miss Perfumado

by Cesária Évora

This is my favourite album of Cesária Évora. Like all of her music, it is full of nostalgia (Sodade, as the title of the first song), love, and hope. And it has Angola on it!

Ess vida sabe qu’nhôs ta vivê Parodia dia e note manché Sem maca ma cu sabura Angola Angola Oi qu’povo sabe Ami nhos ca ta matá-me ‘M bem cu hora pa’me ba nha caminho Ess convivência dess nhôs vivência Paciência dum consequência Resistência dum estravagância